Weekly Update from the Josiah Bartlett Center

Every two years, state employee pay and benefits is a big part of the budget battle yet most policymakers have only vague concepts of whether state workers are the largest cost in the budget and whether employees are over or under compensated.

The new state budget includes a 6.2% raise brought in at the last minute with some incentives to try and control health care costs. The state employees eventually turned down the contract they negotiated but the money is still part of the budget document... Click here to keep reading.

The Fiscal Year 2014-15 Budget passed both the House and Senate by wide margins on June 26th, and is currently awaiting Governor Hassan’s signature, who has said that she will sign it. So how does this year’s final budget look like over all? In General Funds, it spends roughly $213.9 million more than in the previous biennium... Click here to keep reading.